


Fireflies

by Seal_in_Cyberspace



Series: RWBY Stories [54]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Minor Angst, Pre-Relationship, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-10-01 17:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20346460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seal_in_Cyberspace/pseuds/Seal_in_Cyberspace
Summary: Written using the 'kiss on the cheek' prompt.~Ruby approaches the insects slowly, careful not to scare them away. She raises her hand, and one even dares to fly over to her, landing softly on her hand. She smiles. "Hey there, little guy." she whispers, observing the firefly as it crawls a little bit on her skin."I wasn't aware that they were comfortable with close human interaction like that."Ruby gasps. That, in turn, startles the bug, and it flies away.That wasn't Weiss' voice. It was- No, she must be imagining things... right? Ruby lets her hand fall, and she glances to her side, her eyes widening as she sees who's standing there. She blinks disbelievingly for a moment, then forces out a choked, "P-Penny?"





	Fireflies

"I still can't believe you broke our pact."

Weiss raises an eyebrow incredulously, "What _pact__?_"

"The _combat skirt _pact!" Ruby replies as silver eyes meet disbelieving ice-blue ones.

"We never made a pact, Ruby. Besides," Weiss crosses her arms, eyes returning to the almost empty street in front of her, "My last outfit wasn't technically a _combat_ skirt either."

"It was close enough," Ruby murmurs, but decides not to press the issue- though she would make sure to bring it up again at a later time when she _wasn't _relying on Weiss to get back to their place safely.

The whole gang had been out pretty much the whole day; none of them really wanted to just sit around and wait for Ironwood to meet with them. They all partnered up and wandered off to different places. Blake and Yang want back to their room to talk, Ren and Oscar went to eat somewhere, Nora and Jaune found an arcade, and Qrow and Maria went to a museum of Atlesian war history. Weiss and Ruby had just gone on a walk. The younger girl listened as her partner discussed her father and more of her past, making sure to be supportive and reassuring every time Weiss got wary. It's amazing how quickly a single day can go by, Ruby thinks as she lets her gaze wander the street. Her eyes fall onto a streetlight and she's momentarily amazed by how intricate the shape of the architecture is. Then, just to the side, she spots something in the distance. Her mouth falls open slightly, and that's when Weiss takes notice. "Ruby? What-"

"I didn't know they had fireflies in Atlas." Ruby says aloud, and her partner follows her line of sight.

With a soft "Oh," Weiss smiles, "Yeah. They aren't very common here, but you do see them occasionally."

Ruby suddenly stops walking. Fireflies. _Penny... _A distant memory forces its way to the surface of Ruby's mind; a small frown settling on her lips. She gets flashes of ginger and green across her vision, hears faint echos of a long gone "I'm combat ready!" and feels her stomach drop. It's been a long time since it's been relatively calm enough for her mind to wander to the past, but now that it has, her heart feels heavy. Way too many lives have been taken at the hands of Salem's faction. Pyrrha, of course- but before that, Penny. She never deserved what happened to her.

Fireflies have always reminded Ruby of her ever since they watched them together one night. "Can we go see them?"

Weiss halts in her tracks and looks behind her, finally coming to the realization that Ruby had stopped. The white-haired woman's eyebrows furrow. Ruby seems almost... solemn? Not a very common emotion for the young leader. Weiss glances back over at the insects lighting up a few trees up ahead, then returns her attention to her teammate. Obviously, they reminded her of something that would surface that kind of reaction. "Uh... yeah, of course." Weiss frowns, "...Are you okay?"

Ruby meets her eyes slowly, and the smile she gives her is forced- _she's upset._ "I will be." is all she says as she starts towards the bioluminescent bugs.

Weiss stares after her for a moment, following after a few minutes later. Ruby approaches the insects slowly, careful not to scare them away. She raises her hand, and one even dares to fly over to her, landing softly on her hand. She smiles. "Hey there, little guy." she whispers, observing the firefly as it crawls a little bit on her skin.

"I wasn't aware that they were comfortable with close human interaction like that."

Ruby gasps. That, in turn, startles the bug, and it flies away. 

That wasn't Weiss' voice. It was- No, she must be imagining things... right? Ruby lets her hand fall, and she glances to her side, her eyes widening as she sees who's standing there. She blinks disbelievingly for a moment, then forces out a choked, "P-Penny?"

"Yes?"

Ruby looks the girl up and down. It sounds like Penny- it _looks _like Penny. But... Ruby witnessed her get torn apart. Then again... robots can be rebuilt, right? She doesn't know what happened to Penny after everything went down, so she easily could've been repaired. "You... you're okay?"

Penny tilts her head to the side with a small smile, "Of course, Ruby. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because I... Penny, you-"

"Got destroyed?" Penny finishes for her, and Ruby nods. "Well, I was sent to Atlas and repaired." she chuckles, "They _even_ gave me _upgrades_! Now everything comes a bit more fluently to me. For example, the way people talk. I used to sound a lot more... _well, _for lack of a better term, _mechanical."_

Ruby continues to stare at her for a few more seconds until Penny meets her eyes and her restraint _snaps. _The silver-eyed girl lurches forward, wrapping Penny in a tight embrace. "I missed you so much!"

Penny gasps, but then hugs her back. "I missed you too, Ruby. It was quite boring without you and the others."

"Ruby, what- Oh." Weiss finally stops a few feet away, her own surprise showing through her raised eyebrows and slightly parted lips, "Penny...?" Then something registers in Weiss' mind- how devastated Ruby had been after Penny's demise, the story Ruby had told her about going out with Penny and watching the fireflies, and realizes why Ruby had acted the way she did when she saw them a few minutes before. "I'll leave you two be." she says with a smirk directed a Ruby, "I'll be at the coffee shop around the corner when you're ready to head home, Ruby."

Ruby blushes, "Uh, okay. T-Thanks, Weiss."

Weiss nods, leaving her partner alone with her old friend. Ruby turns back to Penny and smiles nervously. "Uh... you wanna sit down?"

Penny returns the smile, "Sure." They both sit down, Ruby laying back against the grass with her arms crossed behind her head. Penny crosses her legs beside her, staring at a few fireflies as they fly in front of her. "So, what have you been up to?"

Ruby's head lolls to the side- smile ever present on her face, too happy to be able to wipe it away. "Saving the world," Ruby jokes, Penny unknowing of the serious undertones.

"Exhilarating." the robot laughs, and then there's a pause. 

...

"You look good."

Ruby's eyebrows raise in surprise, a blush dusting across her cheeks. "Thanks." she replies, her tone giving away how flustered those three words managed to make her.

"You're welcome." Penny says cheerfully, "You appear to be a lot more matured than when we last saw each other."

Ruby sits up, twiddling her thumbs in her lap, "Yeah, well, it's a harsh world out there. Sometimes people need to mature quickly."

"Trust me, I'm aware." Penny agrees, "Being torn apart and then waking up right as a war is brewing can be quite eye-opening."

Ruby frowns, "Oh, Penny- I'm sorry."

"Why?" she asks, her head tilting again, "You didn't do anything wrong. Everyone has their individual traumatic experiences, unfortunately."

"That's true." Ruby says with a nod, "Hey, Penny?"

"Yes?"

"Other than speech patterns, what kind of upgrades did you get?"

"Well," Penny starts, eyebrows pinching together in thought, "I believe they gave me better combat capabilities along with more fluid movements," she says, stretching her fingers out in front of her to demonstrate. The movement looks normal, human like- whereas before, it would have been stiff, _robotic._ "And... heightened emotion sensors. So, I'm now able to _feel_ the way any other human would- well, I think so anyway. I'm not one, so I guess I can't really say- as well as being more receptive to the emotions of others. For example," she takes Ruby's hand, and the silver-eyed girl's breath catches in her throat, blush deepening, "I can tell that you are flustered. Although, I'm not quite sure _why, _I _do _know that it usually has to do with attraction or embarrassment."

"Um," Ruby stutters, "W-Wow, that's a lot of changes." her lips unconsciously tug up at the corners, "You're pretty much as human as I am now, huh?"

Penny chuckles, "A human with processors and databases."

Ruby laughs, the hand that isn't still being grasped moving up to the back of her neck to rub it- a nervous habit she'd developed over the years. 

"Ruby?"

The human's gaze shoots up to meet hers again, "Huh?"

"I don't mean to pry- but is there a reason for your embarrassment?"

Ruby bites her lip, but nods nonetheless, "Yeah." she says- but then second guesses herself, "Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime."

"Oh, okay." Penny replies with a bright grin, "Since you are in Atlas, would you like to meet up one day?"

Ruby smiles, "Yeah, I think I'd like that."

"Good." Penny says, then leans forward and presses a kiss against her cheek before standing up, "It is late, Ruby. You should probably go get some rest where ever it is you are staying."

More flustered than she can ever remember being, Ruby stands up as well, heart pounding in her ears. "Yeah, I- Uh... I will. I'll see you around, Penny."

"I'm counting on it." The bot replies happily, then she makes her way down the street and away from Ruby. 

The team leader takes in a shaky breath, but slowly starts to smile. Later on when she continues walking back to their place with Weiss, the ex-heiress slyly says, "And I thought Blake and Yang were bad." and Ruby buries her face in her hands, groaning, "_Shut_ _up_!"


End file.
